07 February 2005

The NightflyWithout a doubt, the finest album to be released in the 1980s. Donald Fagen's first and best solo project, following hard upon the post-Gaucho breakup of Steely Dan, is a stylistically complete and absolutely funkadelic piece of work, both musically and lyrically. You have to stretch yourself a bit (at least I did) to deal with the general synthy-ness of the record, but that's all part of the mood anyway. Every line is deftly shaped and delivered, making this particular tunesmith better with words than almost any modern novelist. He paints his pictures with vague, seemingly unrelated details, and they come out all the more unique and lush because of it. This is the heart and inspiration of Eustace...a psychotic, haphazard brilliance that is immensely entertaining, consummately wrapped in the choicest grooves and melodies. On their own, both the music and the lyrics are wonderful works of art, but with them fused together so naturally on this album, its an astounding achievement.